let us dine with zeus

Grandpa always said, 

“in your mind, 

you can make a heaven out of hell,

 or a hell out of heaven.” 

I’ve been considering my life purpose lately, and what my grandpa told me a hundred years ago, sitting on his lap in the rocking chair. What have I been trying to achieve for the past 4 years of my life? There has been a theme running amidst my time, a very sneeky theme, competent in the art of disguise and deception. A guerilla themed terrorist if you will.  


Sometimes in our lives, we experience a period of in-adequate substandard existence. Or in other words, we get in a rut. It happens, and is totally human, but it still happens. We get in ruts. Shitty ruts, in which we know we are in a rut, because our lives have been better - because we've all, at one point or another, been on top a Mount Kilamajaro sized joybliss mountain. This is how I know, that there is in fact a heaven on Earth. A time when all moments converge together in a spectacular flourishing rhythm of surrealism. Everything flows like a timeless river, currents blossoming with harmony, bending around life's happenings with seamless tranquility. Each instant is unfathomably fucking awesome.


I think life by default, is eternally heaven, a forever mountain top. Yet still, we descend into an occasional valley. Therefor, I think it is a voluntary choice to dismount off this metaphorical peak into a place less much-ier. We deploy these thoughts of insufficiency and know that something isn't right - so we fight, and ninja battle our way up a treacherous highway bushwhacking through life's multiflora rosa to obtain our once held statue of glory. Peaks and valleys my friend. 


What if... What if.. What if we chose to simply not acknowledge the fact this concept of a valley, or rut, or hell, what ever you want to call it, exists. My thought is, in your mind, you can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven - but what if there is no hell, then there is no other option than heaven.


Have you ever been put in a position where a group of people, possibly children, are looking to your every move for an example of how to lead their own lives? And you get yourself into a situation where everything in life is turning on you, the weather is poor and pouring down, the mentality is abysmal, the food you just fed them sucked - because there was no food, the traffic on the way to your campsite was like trying to be a giant sea turtle navigating through a pool of molasses during an arctic winter. In a time like this, you have two choices. Acknowledge that this moment in time SUCKS, and live in a rutty life chapter and bring your army of brave children along for a sucky suckerson ride. or. there is no option for that. you deflect any droplets of dreadful inspiration pouring down on you, and let it roll off your back, like water on a duck's back. there is no way in hell i will bring these small creatures, living in a constant state of discovery, to a place where they are discovering how bad things can get. 


I would much rather, bring them to a place where they discover.. how everyone around them can be experiencing a slow descent into a valley of hell - and they - they are the ones who choose to be ontop Mount Olympus, above the dark clouds, dinning in the halls of Zeus, dancing around a golden Latte, being fed bushels of grapes by Aphrodite herself. They are the ones choosing to embrace the joy in every moment, no matter its perceived worth. 


pour that into your mouth, please.

-Jackson